


Hero Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

by Torradin341



Series: Hero Potter and the Hogwarts Adventures [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Female Harry Potter, Gen, Good Dudley Dursley, Good Petunia Dursley, Hagrid isn't a punchline, Harry Potter Has a Pet Snake, No Hedwig, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slytherin isn't a punchline either, Snape isn't a complete ass and actually does his job
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-17
Updated: 2017-07-17
Packaged: 2018-12-03 06:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11526015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torradin341/pseuds/Torradin341
Summary: In short? fem!Harry rewrite where the characters aren't one-dimensional cartoons. It'll still follow the events of the book, but the goal is to try to flesh out the characters and situations to make sense from the tonal perspective of the seventh book, in which very few characters and situations maintained a cartoonish tone.Also changed a few other things, here and there.





	Hero Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

**Author's Note:**

> Content Warning: Physical Abuse

Petunia sighed as she removed Dudley’s birthday cake from the oven. She smiled ruefully at it. The past year had been a long and eventful one, full of many changes. She had taken the children and left Vernon, after the man had nearly beat Hero to death. They had moved, obviously, and the children had switched schools. Petunia had had to find work, something the housewife had little experience with. It had all started with Hero’s last birthday, eleven months ago.

They had barely ever celebrated Hero’s birthday. Vernon had been loathe to acknowledge his niece in any way, and devoting a whole day to doing so had always infuriated the man. Nevertheless, Petunia had always tried to do something for the girl. Last year had been Hero’s tenth birthday, and her aunt had felt this had warranted braving Vernon’s wrath.

The day had gone well, since Petunia’s husband had been at work. She had decided to take the children to the zoo for the day, which had turned out to be an excellent choice. Hero and Dudley practically ran to each exhibit, excitedly watching the animals for a moment before rushing off to the next one. It was all Petunia could do to keep up with them. The visit peaked when they reached the reptile house. Hero became enthralled looking at the boa constrictor and had started talking to it.

This had thoroughly caught her aunt and cousin off guard.

Dudley, only being a child, was amazed by it, and had tried to participate in the conversation. Hero had been baffled that she had been hissing instead of speaking words, but had happily translated the conversation for the other two parties. The three happily conversed for several minutes while Petunia stared in first amazement, then fear, then wonder. She eventually told the children that they had to move on, since there were other animals to see and because she would have to get home soon to start making dinner for everyone.

Eventually they left the zoo. Once they reached the car, Petunia had cautioned them to not mention Hero’s ability to speak to snakes to anyone. It wasn’t something that anyone else could do, and there would be people who would be either afraid or jealous, or perhaps both. It was best to keep it their secret.

Once they had gotten home, Petunia had prepared dinner, Vernon had arrived home from work, and they had all sat down to eat. There was no cake. There were no presents. Vernon wouldn’t have tolerated such ‘wasteful extravagances’ on the Potter girl. Bad enough that the ‘freak’ ate at the table with them like a normal person.

Things might have continued uneventfully after that, but Hero was excited. It was her birthday, after all. She knew better than to ask for presents – she was well aware of Vernon’s stance on them – but she couldn’t help herself. So she had asked for a pet snake. Even at that, Petunia thought, it might have been fine, but Hero had added to her request, quite innocently.

She wanted the pet snake so that she would have a friend to talk to.

The table had gone deathly silent as everyone processed what had just been said. Petunia and Dudley had stared at Hero in horror. The girl, for her part, had thrown her hands up to cover her mouth and looked at her uncle in terror, wishing she could snatch the errant words out of the air.

It had been too late. Vernon had shouted about snakes not being able to talk, and that he would beat some sense into the girl. Petunia had stood up and tried to get in his way, hold him back. After all, Hero was just a child, she didn’t know what she was talking about. Petunia had been used to taking the brunt of his anger. Most of the time, it had been her fault-

No. She had to remember, his violence was not her fault. It never had been, nor had it been the children’s fault. That was why she had left. He had started beating Hero, but wouldn’t stop. Petunia had tried to intervene, but only succeeded in receiving a fist to the side of her head for the trouble. _And that’s what it took_ , she thought sardonically. _Vernon knocking some sense into me_. Desperate, she had contacted Dumbledore after that.

It had only taken her nine years.

Dumbledore had arrived swiftly, but by then Hero was a broken heap on the kitchen floor. On her birthday, no less. The arch-wizard had barely been able to suppress his rage at the sight of the crumpled body.

It had been lucky for Vernon that Dumbledore was a much better man than he.

Hero had been taken to St Mungo’s immediately and had lain in a coma for a month. Petunia and Dudley had been relocated to a new home well away from Little Whinging. With some assistance from the headmaster (he had many connections, after all), Petunia was able to divorce her abusive husband in short order.

After the healers had repaired her body, Dumbledore had Hero transferred to a non-magical hospital nearer the family’s new home so that Petunia and Dudley could visit more easily. The two visited as much as they could. The boy had not wanted to leave his cousin’s side and his mother had been loathe to do so as well. The girl was all Petunia had left of her sister.

When Hero had woken up, it was to the sight of a sleeping aunt and cousin next to her hospital bed. She had no idea where she was, or how she had gotten there. All the ten year old girl remembered was asking for a pet snake to talk to, and that her uncle had not liked that. As flashes of the assault from that night came back to her, she started crying. Petunia had heard muted sobs and bolted awake to see Hero trying to curl in on herself. In a flash, she was at her niece’s side, holding the girl and reassuring her that everything was alright now. Vernon was gone, and would be forever. She would never have to see him again.

Dudley had woken up and silently hugged both of them.

Once Hero was released, the family returned to their new home, where Hero was presented with her very own room. Petunia had told her quite firmly that she would never have to live in a cupboard again. _Never_. Hero had been speechless at the sight. Walking into the room, she was amazed by the bed – a real bed, of her very own! Vernon had forced her to live in the cupboard under the stairs, “like the freak you are,” he had said. There had been no room for a bed there, only a cot and some thin blankets. Only the sight of the glass case next to her wardrobe (her very own wardrobe!) was enough to pull her eyes away from the room. She looked back at her aunt and, pointing to the case, asked what it was for.

Petunia had smiled a broken smile, and with tears in her eyes, informed Hero that that was a terrarium for her pet snake. In fact, she went on, Dudley had picked out the prettiest snake he could, and he had been waiting for her to come home so that he could show her. Dudley, excitement showing clearly on his face, had stepped up to the case and pointed out the ball python.

“She doesn’t have a name yet,” he had said.

Petunia smiled at the memory as she started to prepare Dudley’s birthday dinner. Hero had proceeded to talk to the snake in that sibilant, hissing language she was capable of speaking. Dudley had looked on, fascinated, as the snake and girl hissed at each other. After a minute, Hero had turned to Dudley and, with a bright grin on her face, informed her cousin that the snake’s name was Cleopatra.

Petunia had been quick to remind them that other people would find it unusual that Hero could talk to snakes, and that they should not let anyone else know about that. It was, after all, their secret – just the three of them. She had not mentioned what had happened the last time someone had found out.

She hadn’t needed to.

Life had settled down a bit after that. Hero and Dudley had started their new school, and though Hero didn’t make any new friends, Dudley did. Hero had always been shy, and had always tried to keep to herself. This hadn’t stopped other children from making fun of her for being ‘weird’. Dudley, on the other hand, had never had trouble fitting in and being popular. He had made several friends before long. The boy did his best to look out for his cousin, and managed to stop a large portion of the bullying she would have normally suffered.

Petunia had had to find a job, something she hadn’t needed to do since she married Vernon. Although they had received some assistance from Dumbledore in getting settled into a new home, Petunia knew she couldn’t rely on his charity for long. She was too proud for that. It had taken her a few weeks to find something, but she had quickly excelled at her new employment. While she didn’t earn a lot of money, she earned enough.

And so life had continued on. Hero adored her new pet, Dudley played with his new friends, and Petunia worked. Christmas had been a subdued affair, but a happy one. Easter came and went. The school year came to a close. And Petunia had finally come to terms with the fact that she was going to have to tell her niece – and her son, for that matter – the truth about Lily and James Potter. The truth about The Girl Who Lived.

Then Hero would go off to the same school that Petunia’s sister had gone to. She would go with her aunt’s blessing. Petunia had resolved long ago that she would do whatever she could to support Hero’s magic.

Petunia would not make the same mistakes as she had with her sister.

The woman’s greatest regret was that Lily had never forgiven her. Petunia had always been jealous of her sister and that Severus boy. She had been so consumed and poisoned by it that she hadn’t even gone to Lily’s wedding. She had, may God forgive her, been contemptuous of the news of Hero’s birth. Another freak, she had thought. And now that “freak” was one half of all of the family that she had left. Her sister had died thinking that Petunia hated her. She had died, and the last words exchanged between them had been fire and poison and hate.

“You would be proud of her, sister. I know it,” Petunia spoke to herself. It was quiet in the kitchen as she cooked. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “I hope you can forgive me, wherever you are.”

It was not the first time she had said those words.

She knew it would not be the last.

It had not taken very long for Petunia to forgive Lily of any wrong she may or may not have actually committed. She new it was far too late to matter, but she did it anyway. Petunia would never forgive herself, however.

Some things would get easier when her niece left. With Hero off at Hogwarts, she wouldn’t have to worry as much about money. As it was, the past year had been incredibly stressful on that account. She had found a job quickly, yes, but raising two children on her income was not easy. Her ex-husband had made substantially more money than she was currently making.

Closing the oven on their dinner Petunia sighed again and looked through the kitchen window. It had indeed been a long year, full of many changes. The new house wasn’t as big as the one on Privet Drive, nor was the yard. Her garden was tiny, compared to what it had been in the old house. But watching her son and her niece (and Cleopatra, the snake) play in the smaller back yard by her much smaller garden, she was happy to say that she had never felt more at home.

**Author's Note:**

> So that's the first chapter. I don't know how frequently I'll update, but I do plan on finishing this. Comments are welcome.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> \------------------------  
> Edit: I am sorry, but I have to put this on indefinite hiatus (after just one chapter, is it really a hiatus?). A lot of things have happened suddenly and I am having a very difficult time writing anything. Again, sorry.  
> \------------------------


End file.
